05/30/2025
HUGE WIN for cottage bakers in Texas!!
🧁 The Texas Cottage Food Law just got ⚡SUPERCHARGED⚡! Governor Greg Abbott has signed SB 541, the biggest expansion of the Texas Cottage Food Law yet. The bill’s passage puts Texas back on the cutting edge of cottage food laws nationwide!
Some of the changes include:
- Allows wholesale of non-refrigerated foods through a “cottage food vendor”
- The annual sales cap has tripled to $150,000, and is indexed to inflation from now on
- Clarifies (crystal clear) that there are no permits or permit fees required for selling or sampling – EVER
- Removing your home address from the food label with optional DSHS registration. You would get a unique identifier number from DSHS to put on your labels instead.
- This is personal – a new statement of non-inspection for the label that doesn’t read like it was run back and forth through Google translate half a dozen times. “THIS PRODUCT WAS PRODUCED IN A PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO GOVERNMENTAL LICENSING OR INSPECTION.”
- Foods allowed is now an EXCLUSION model. So, there’s no list any more of what you CAN sell, it’s now a list of what you CAN’T sell. Trust me, this is good. You will be able to sell ANY FOOD directly to the consumer under the cottage food law, except:
* meat, meat products, poultry, or poultry products (this doesn’t mean eggs, it means the carcass of a chicken);
* seafood, including seafood products, fish, fish products, shellfish, and shellfish products;
* ice or ice products, including shaved ice, ice cream, frozen custard, popsicles, and gelato;
* low-acid canned goods;
* products containing cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); or
* raw milk and raw milk products
What kind of cottage foods can you sell as of September 1, 2025, that aren’t allowed now? Cheesecakes. Banana pudding. Flan. Pumpkin pie. Cream pies. Cut fruits and vegetables. Cheese. Vegetarian casseroles and pasta dishes. Pizza (no meat). Sandwiches (no meat). Hot meals (no meat). Sense a theme here? No meat. You WILL need to register with DSHS if you are selling foods that require refrigeration, and add some additional information to your labels (date made and a statement about safe handling instructions).
DSHS must make rules regarding registering to sell refrigerated foods, removing your home address from your label, and the process to become a cottage food vendor. I have NO ANSWERS to questions about this process at this time. We will be monitoring closely over the coming months and provide information as soon as it is available.
The changes go into effect on September 1, 2025. Thank you, Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Lois Kolkhorst, Representative Lacey Hull and Judith McGeary at the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance for your hard work contributing to this victory!
LET'S PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!
